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Bob is back at the affordable housing project in Mashpee, Massachusetts, where he meets with developer Joe Valle, the chair of the Mashpee Zoning Board of Appeals, Mashpee's Assistant Town Planner, and a representative of the Mashpee Affordable Housing Committee to review how Act 40B benefited the community and the developer through creative zoning relief. At one home site, Bob learns about the detailed and finial-capped, maintenance-free vinyl picket fence from Perfection Fence that will sit in front of each home. The exterior of the house is being clad with cedar shakes on three sides and LP SmartSide engineered lap siding on the front fa?ade. This siding is made of medium-density oriented strand board (MDO) faced with a textured paint-based overlayer that gives a rough-textured, pre-primed, cedar-look appearance to the clapboards. SmartSide siding resists fungal growth and termites and carries a 30-year transferable warranty. Inside they are putting up the fabric to hold in the Blow-In-Blanket insulation in the wall and ceiling cavities. Pulling the fabric tight across the cavities holds the insulation in place and prevents settling. Once the untreated fiberglass insulation is blown in to a two-pound density, the exterior walls will have an R-value of 15.

Bob meets Lance Olson of Louisiana Pacific as LP's Smartside lap siding is installed on a Mashpee house. SmartSide is a treated engineered wood siding made of medium density oriented strand board (MDO) with a textured face that is embossed during manufacture. It's rough, cedar-look texture is intended to mirror recent cladding trends as homebuilders have started to turn boards rough side out to give texture to the facade and also provide a better surface for paint. SmartSide is very affordable and cost effective at about one-half the cost of traditional wood siding. It is engineered for its look and durability, is treated with zinc borate to resist fungal growth and termites, and resin bonded for stability. The manufacturing essentially takes the wood, removes its defects such as knots and splits, then reassembles it as a stronger, more stable product. It is a uniform thickness throughout and comes in 16-foot lengths for quick installation. SmartSide comes with a seven-year total warranty and a 30-year transferable warranty for material and labor. It comes pre-primed from the factory for additional labor savings and has a full line of trim to complete the installation. This New England home is using classic trim designs for corners and windows, with a frieze that extends from the roof line to the window, and window casing on the sides that meet the frieze at the top.

This project deals with two very different notions of home. Bob begins on New York City's Upper West Side, where an 1890s Brownstone is revitalized through high-quality craftsmanship and sensitive design. New York's past meets its present, as the entire floor is recaptured and refurbished to create a spacious urban apartment on the doorstep of Central Park.

At the same time, Bob works with a Cape Cod developer to apply Massachusetts land use statute 40B to create affordable housing, and a neighborhood of homes in Mashpee, MA. These Energy Star certified homes show how quality building practices and reasonable asking prices can work together to provide livable, affordable homes and neighborhoods to those who work in our communities.